Reality Winner
Donnie’s indictment for mishandling classified documents cited violations of the Espionage Act which as Donnie’s lawyers constantly reminded us has everything to do with the “state of mind” of the innocent-sounding “mishandler”.
What was the “state of mind” of Reality Winner (her real name) when she released NSA documents claiming Russian interference in the 2016 election? She must have had evil intentions since she served more than 5 years in prison as a result. Will Donnie undergo the same fate?
Reality Winner served in the Air Force for six years after high school and became fluent in Middle Eastern languages. Assigned to the drone program, she listened in on intercepted Taliban chatter. She was awarded a medal for “aiding in 650 enemy captures, 600 enemies killed in action and identifying 900 high value targets.”
You make a lot more money as a civilian working for the military than as an enlisted person. Reality got a job with an NSA contractor translating documents relating to Iran’s aerospace program. Although it was outside the scope of her security clearance, she also found documents stating that Russia hacked into US voter rolls prior to the 2016 election. She “leaked” this document to The Intercept, a newsletter, and was interviewed about it on “60 Minutes”
In June, 2017 (guess who was president at the time?), the FBI arrested Reality. She was denied bail. She finally stood trial in 2018. Her crackerjack legal time advised her to plead guilty. She should have used Donnie’s “I can declassify stuff just by thinking about it” defense. Reality was sentenced to 5 years and 3 months, all of which she served.
What did Donnie have to say about this? In August, 2018, he tweeted, “Ex-NSA contractor to spend 63 months in jail over ‘classified’ information. Gee, this is ‘small potatoes’ compared to what Hillary did! So unfair Jeff! Double Standard.” Good old Donnie was never one to pass up a shot at Hillary or Jeff (Sessions, his Attorney General at the time). Little did he know that he might be facing jail time under the same “unfair double standard”.
We are all supposed to be “equal before the law”. Let’s see if Donnie is denied bail, convicted, and spends 5 years, 3 months in prison like poor Reality.
By Ed Dufton
